Meow Lightbox

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. The recent download trend is too spiky to read.

1. ★★★★★ jhmnieuwenhuis

   1mo ago

   Excellent plugin and equally important, there support is the best !

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ Lazylonewolf

   2mo ago

   My site uses both Simple Lightbox and Jetpack’s Carousel.They work well enough, but I hate that I need two separate plugins to display solo and gallery images, particularly that they look different from each other. With Meow Lightbox and Gallery, well, it’s still two separate plugins but at least the look of the lightbox and galleries are consistent. I also didn’t need to edit PHP files unlike with Simple Lightbox. One caveat though: both plugins don’t seem to play well with the LiteSpeed Cache plugin for any preset above Essential. I wager its because of the QUIC.cloud connection… while I have encountered minimal problems with Jetpack and Simple Lightbox even with QUIC.cloud.

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ pixelzeit

   3mo ago

   Als einfacher Anwender und Internetseitenbetreiber (www.pixelzeiten.de) kann ich die Lightbox nur empfehlen. Die Einstellungen sind übersichtlich und super schön in ihrer Umsetzung. Als Hobbyfotograf ist man sehr glücklich, das es die Plugins von Meow gibt. Einfach nah an der Praxis.

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4. ★★★★★ FormidlerLone

   3mo ago

   Easy to use, and looks great. Many ways to costumize.

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ gpcammino

   3mo ago

   Mi sono trovato subito bene grazie ai programmatori

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ kaiyoma

   3mo ago

   This lightbox plugin is incredible. It works equally well with keyboard, mouse, or touchscreen – the UX is really snappy and intuitive. The overlay is nicely designed, responsive (in terms of both layout and interactions), and honestly joyful to use. One of my favorite features is that the lightbox will collect all the images from your post, even if the images are separated by paragraphs (other lightbox plugins struggle with this). All told, another amazing plugin by Jordy!

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ lenswanderings

   5mo ago

   Originally I had the Cache – Disable box ticked and this caused a lot of frustration with caption edits not being shown. After un-ticking the box I now had access to the Reset cache button and could use it to update the display of edited captions. Does the ‘Disable cache’ not work? I find this counterintuitive but now have a workflow which seems to do the job. The rest of the Lightbox plugin works extremely well. Thank you for supporting photographers! This topic was modified 3 months ago by lenswanderings.

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ popkaraie

   5mo ago

   Simple is fine.

   Read on wp.org ↗

Recent releases and news for this plugin

1. — Version 5.5.8 Fix: Resolved an issue where gallery infinite scroll could get stuck in a load more loop. Update: Removed placeholder image handling in the lightbox. Add: Translations support for the lightbox interface with additional l 5.5.8
2. — Version 5.5.7 Update: Fullscreen is now a toolbar action, with “Start Fullscreen” available as a secondary option for mobile and desktop. Update: Date and Time are now separate settings in EXIF metadata display. Fix: Images without a 5.5.7
3. — Version 5.5.6 Add: Dynamic aria-label updates for lightboxified images. Update: Removed default titles from next and previous buttons. Add: Internationalization support in lightbox components. Fix: Sub-pixel flickers in the lightbox d 5.5.6
4. — Version 5.5.5 Update: Refreshed the welcome message screen with a new layout. Update: Better UI/UX. 5.5.5
5. — Version 5.5.4 Add: Question icon to the Tutorial button in the header. Add: Support for JSON styling on Google Maps. Update: Refactored output buffering logic. 5.5.4
6. — Version 5.5.3 Fix: Resolved an issue where dynamic cache keys could exceed the WordPress transient name limit by using MD5 hashing. Fix: Resolved an issue where scrolling with the mouse wheel on the Description field was not working c 5.5.3

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0

Translated into 10 languages, 2 at 90% or more

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2025-05-14 9K+ → 10K+ up after 299 days in tier
2. 2024-07-19 8K+ → 9K+ up after 1 days in tier
3. 2024-07-18 9K+ → 8K+ down after 1 days in tier
4. 2024-07-17 8K+ → 9K+ up after 147 days in tier
5. 2024-02-21 7K+ → 8K+ up after 223 days in tier
6. 2023-07-13 6K+ → 7K+ up

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

• S Simple Lightbox 100K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags B
• Lightbox with PhotoSwipe 20K+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags A
• VenoBox Lightbox 1K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags D
• B blueimp lightbox 1K+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags D
• E Easy Photo Album 1K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags D
• WF Magnific Lightbox 1K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A

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Drop a live Pulse card for Meow Lightbox into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

Meow Lightbox: 10K+ active installs, 4.9★ (186 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-29. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/meow-lightbox